


auribus teneo lupum

by Heather



Category: The Eagle | The Eagle of the Ninth (2011)
Genre: First Kiss, Huddling For Warmth, M/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 05:29:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13047459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heather/pseuds/Heather
Summary: Marcus and Esca have a moment.





	auribus teneo lupum

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inmyriadbits](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inmyriadbits/gifts).



Marcus coped badly with cold.

Esca had noticed it many times throughout their journey to find the eagle, and many more times before that at his uncle's home in Calleva. Marcus was in every way hard, soldierly, and uncompromising, willing to endure any pain or deprivation uncomplaining for the sake of his blasted honor- any, that was, save for when the weather cooled down. 

Suddenly he wasn't such a brave warrior after all. Suddenly he would curl, like a squirming caterpilar, into the chrysalis of his blankets, clenching his teeth so hard that Esca would hear them grinding. (Apparently, to Marcus, grinding was preferable to chattering.)

Esca had no idea what the climate was like in Rome, but it certainly hadn't turned Marcus into someone who could comfortably sleep through autumn nights in Britain. It irritated him a bit, watching a grown man hide away from a brisk wind as though it was the breath of a dragon, but at the same time it made Esca feel sorry for Marcus. It wasn't Marcus' fault that he had no grit for cold, and it wasn't as though he was doing it on purpose to annoy Esca. 

So it was in the spirit of charity that Esca lifted up the edge of his own covers and called to Marcus, "Come on, then. Come here. It won't be so bad with another blanket and another body to keep the chill out and you look as though you'll be dead of it in another minute."

Marcus, for his part, shot Esca an irked look. "I'm perfectly fine."

"You're not," Esca said. "And you're keeping me awake with your teeth going like you're munching on bones. Come here before I smother you."

With what appeared to be Herculean effort, Marcus smiled at him, teeth and lips both trying to shiver their way out of it. "With what?" he asked. "Your wafer-thin blanket or your bony carcass?"

Esca laughed, incredulous. "Both," he said. "Which you ought to appreciate. You'll die warm."

"Can't fault you for logic," Marcus said. 

"Can't fault me for warmth, either," Esca said. He made an effort to temper his expression to one more of concern than irritation, and did his best to gentle his tone. "Come."

The look Marcus gave him this time was one of low suspicion, as though he suspected Esca of trying to trick him in some way. But he still sat up from where he was prostrate on the ground and he still slid across the dirt to lie at Esca's elbow. Esca tried to keep a self-satisfied smirk from his face.

"Here," Esca said, pulling Marcus close against his side and layering both of the blankets over them. It was instantly warmer: Esca nearly wanted to strip his shirt off as soon as they were settled. This might be comfortable for Marcus, but it was a bit rich for his blood. 

Marcus seemed to read his mind and gave him a pitying half smile. "Perhaps you care to revisit this idea again?" 

Esca set his teeth. "No need," he said. "This is better, is it not?"

The look on Marcus' face became still more pitying, with an edge of affection to it that Esca would have been loath to admit he enjoyed. "It is," Marcus said, with a tone as though he was deliberately choosing not to argue with him. 

It was this tone that compelled Esca to reach for him, threading his fingers into Marcus' hair and drawing him imperceptibly closer. Marcus looked startled, but didn't pull away. "I live but to serve," Esca said, his tone so stiffly formal that even he had trouble not laughing at himself. 

Marcus had no such trouble, chuckling under his breath. "You may joke," he said, "but even now your- your loyalty moves me." And with some hesitation, he reached back, running his fingers through Esca's hair by his ear. 

Esca drew a breath as Marcus' fingers, rough and calloused, skimmed the edge of his ear itself, the thumb coming to rest on his lobe. Such a little thing, to feel like _that._

Marcus' face flooded with color that had nothing to do with how warm he suddenly was, and his teeth worried, painful-looking, at his lower lip. Esca knew that look: in the privacy of his own mind, he called it Marcus' Roman look, his expression for when thoughts about what is proper and what isn't for a Roman to do were clogging up the back of his throat.

It was new for him to look like that while Esca was tucked so, so close.

Esca was fascinated. Experimentally, he ran his fingers down the back of Marcus' neck, stroking his thumb along a vein in his throat, feeling where his pulse throbbed, his heartbeat seeming to speed up with every movement Esca's hand made.

Marcus' face grew redder and more Roman by the second, but he held still, watching Esca wih eyes that were bright, curious, even a little hungry, as though he was waiting to see what Esca was going to do next. 

Esca gently pried Marcus' lip loose from where he was still biting it, looking at him thoughtfully. They had never spoken of the thing that lay between them. Not when they had lived together in his uncle's house while he recovered from his surgery; not while they had ridden over hill and dale, trying to find the faintest trace of the Eagle of the Ninth. Not once since as they wandered the countryside, with Marcus waiting patiently for Esca to come up with an idea for their next adventure. 

Looking at Marcus' eyes, at his red-bitten lip, at the way he held so still in Esca's arms, just- waiting for him to move, looking so wanting and so very ashamed to want... Esca was starting to have an idea. 

He cupped Marcus' chin in his hand, tilted his face up towards him, and kissed him.

His heart began racing so fast he was dizzy when Marcus kissed him back.


End file.
